Spring catch for doors and the like



March 19 1957 R. M. DAFFURN ETAL 2,785,915

SPRING CATCH FOR DOORS AND THE LIKE Filed July 6, 1955 `I :i 3?.- gunnaeemmv SPRING CATCH FOR DOORS AND THE LIKE Roland Mackenzie Dalurn, Wylde Green, Sutton Coldtield, and Anthony Howard-Smith, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, assignors to Smith and Davis Limited, Wednesbury, England, a British company Application July 6, 1955, Serial No. 520,314 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 15, 1954 Claims. (Cl. 292-75) This invention relates to spring catches for non-pro hibitively retaining doors and the like in their closed positions, the catches being of the kind each comprising a bolt which is urged forwardly by resilient means into an extended position for retentive engagement with for eX- ample a catch plate which may be secured to a door jamb, and which bolt is pushed into a retracted position against the action of the resilient means by the catch plate when the catch and the catch plate are moved relatively during closing and opening of the doo-r.

In order to counteract the effect of Wear of the catch and catch plate and warping of the door and door jamb, it has been found necessary to construct catches of the above kind so as to make variable the amount that the bolt projects beyond the front face of the catch for engagement with the catch plate, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction of such a catch which is adjustable whilst secured to a door or the like to vary the amount of projection of the bolt.

According to one aspect of the present invention a spring catch for a door or the like for non-prohibitively retaining the door in a closed position comprises a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes Iat its forward or nose end a roller for cooperating with a catch plate or the like, said bolt being formed with a hole or opening which extends rearwardly from said forward or nose end and through which hole or opening a suitable tool can be passed for effecting adjustment of means disposed rearwardly of said forward or nose end and determining the extent which said forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

According to a more limited aspect of the invention a spring catch for a door or the like for non-prohibitively retaining the door in a closed position comprises a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for cooperating with a catch plate or the like, said roller being formed with a transverse hole through which a suitable tool can be passed for effecting adjustment of means disposed rearwardly of the roller and determining the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

According to a still more limited aspect of the invention a spring catch for a door or the like for non-prohibitively retaining the door in a closed position, comprises a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for cooperating with a cat-ch plate or the like, stop means disposed rearwardly of the roller `and adapted to cooperate with the bolt to determine the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch, and said roller being formed with a transverse hole through which a suitable tool can be passed to eifect adjustment of the stop means to vary the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

nited States Patent C) Preferably the stop means is in the form of a screw i 2,785,915 Patented Mar. 19, 1957 r"icc which extends in the 'direction of movement of the bolt and which, at its rearward end, makes screw-threaded engagement with a screw-threaded hole in a stationary part of the catch and at its forward end has a head which co-operates with the bolt to determine the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch, and said head being adapted to be engaged and rotated by the tool when passed through the transverse hole in the roller to vary the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

A spring catch constructed in accordance with this invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the catch; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the catch on an enlarged scale; f

Fig. 3 is a side sectional view taken on the lines 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the lines 4-4 of Fig. 3, and;

Fig. 5 is a view of a modified form of roller.

The spring catch comprises a body 10 which includes a iiat attachment plate 11 provided adjacent its upper and lower edges with holes 12 to receive screws for attaching the catch to the door, the plate being applied to the edge of the door and forming a front face plate of the catch.

Formed rigidly with the attachment plate and extending rearwardly from the rear face of said plate is a hollow cylindrical casing 14, whose axis is disposed at right angles to the plane of the attachment plate and the bore 13 of the casing is non-circular as shown in Fig. 4 and extends to the front of the attachment plate 11 where it slidably receives the front or nose end of the bolt 15 in a manner preventing rotation of the bolt. At the rear end of the casing there is provided a rear transverse wall 16 in the centre of which is formed a screw-threaded axially disposed hole 17 for a purpose hereinafter described. The ba-ck of the wall 16 is conveniently concave as shown in Fig. 3.

The bolt 15 has one end portion 18 of larger diameter than the other end portion 19 to provide a shoulder 20 therebetween. The larger diameter portion 18 is disposed at the front end of the bolt and has two flats to provide sides and is bifurcated to provide two arms 21 between which is disposed a rollar 22 having rigid therewith a pair of co-axial pins 23 which are rotatably located one in one arm and one in the other arm. The width of each arm 21 between the flats is substantially equal to the diameter of the smaller diameter end portion 19.

The non-circular bore 13 in the attachment plate is shaped slidably to receive the roller 22 and the arms 21 of the bolt 15, and said bore is provided with rectangular corner formations 24 which are slidably engaged by the flats of the arms, and the sides of the roller to prevent rotation of the bolt about its own axis.

The smaller diameter portion 19 of the bolt is of sleeve-like formation, the bore 25 of which extends from the bifurcation to the rear end of the bolt at which rear end the diameter of the bore is less than the diameter of tle forward part of the bore to provide an annular wall 2 Disposed within the bore 25 of the sleeve-like part of the bolt so as to be concentric with the axis of the bolt, is a screw 27 provided with a head 28 at its forward end, which head is slidable within the larger diameter part of the bore 25, whilst the screw-threaded shank of the screw is slidable through the smaller diameter part of said bore, and said screw-threaded shank extends' be yond the rear Iend of the bolt and engages the screw'- threaded hole 17 formed in the rear wall 16 of the casing.

The screw-threaded shank of the screw 27 also has a tightl -screw engagement with `a fibre nut 29 which is shaped to correspond with the cross-sectional shape of the b ore 13 so as to be non-rotatable therein and to resist accidental rotation of the screw when the catch is in use on a door.

Mounted on the sleeve-like portion 19 of the bolt is-helical compression spring 30 which operates between the front face of the iibre nut 29 and the shoulder 2i) formed at the junction of the smaller and larger diameter portions of the bolt so as to urge the bolt outwardly of the casingto an extent determ-inedby the screw head 2S which forms a stop against which abuts the wall 26 formed at the junction of the smaller and larger diameter parts of the bore 25 in the sleeve-like portions of the bolt.

The head 28 of the screw is disposed at the rear of the roller 22 and.` is formed with4 a screw-driver slot 31 or like formation. whichY can be engaged by a tool (not shown) and in order to render thev head 28 accessible from the front of the catch the roller is provided with a diametrically disposed hole oropening- 32 through which, when the roller is appropriately positioned, a screw driver or like tool. can be inserted to engage. the head 28 of the screw. The hole 32 in the roller is preferably circular and is disposed centrally between the sidesthereof, and the periphery of the roller may be plain as shown in Figs. l to 3. Alternatively the roller may be provided with a central annular groove 33 into which the ends of the hole 32 emerge to ensure that the boundary edges of the ends of the hole are not deformed inwardly during co-operation of the roller with the catch plate to such an extent as might prevent a toolV being inserted through the hole to engage the head of the screw. The annular groove 33 4may be of any suitable cross-sectional shape.

As previously described the roller 22 is mounted upon a pair of co-axial pins which engage the yarms 21 in the bolt in a rotatable manner, and in order to secure the pins to the roller the pins are passed through the respective arms 21 and are driven into the roller until their inner ends project small distances into the diametral hole 32 in said roller and which positions of the pins are then maintained by suitable tools. The said inner ends are then deformed so as to be spread by passing a mandrel or drift through the diametral hole 32 in said roller, saidv mandrel ordrift being so formed as to engage and spread the inner ends of the pins so that said pins are secured rigid with the roller.

To enable parts of the catch to be easily cleaned or replaced by the new parts the screw 27 can readily be screwed out of engagement with the rear wall 16 of the casing and withdrawn from the casing together with the bolt and the compression spring.

Conveniently the bolt 15, less the roller and pins therefor, and also the body 10 are made each as a diecastiilg- After4 fitting the catch to a door the amount by which the bolt projects beyond the front face of the catch, Whsrithe bolt is extended by the Compression spring. can be varied after rotating the roller into `a position in which the diametral hole 32 therein is alignedwith the screw head 2 8 which passes through the bolt, by inserting a, screwfdriver through the diametral hole to engage said head and rotating the screw in one or the other direction whereby the screw head is caused to move either nearer to or further away from the front face of the catch. Since said head forms the stop means determining the amount of projection of the bolt from the front face of the catch,`the amount of projection is varied according to the amount of rotation imparted to the screw 27. It should be appreciated that this adjustment can be mede without removing. the earch from the door.

Aatch constructed in accordance with thisl invention enableszthe amount of proiection of the vbolt-beyond the front `face of the catch to be varied in an extremely simple manner, and by reason of the cylindrical formation of the casing, it is only necessary to drill a circular hole in a door to receive said casing and to form a shallow recess in `said door to receive the attachment plate.

Furthermore the construction enables the casing, bolt, screw, spring, and the hole in the roller, when the latter is suitably positioned, to be all co-axially arranged whereby a compact catch is provided.

What we claim then is;

l. A spring -catch for `a door .or the like for non-prohibitively retaining the Idoor in a closed position, and comprising a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for `o o-operating with a catch plate or the like, said bolt being formed with a hole or opening which extends rearwardly from said forward or nose end and which lhole or opening is positioned so that a suitable tool can be passed therethrough for electing adjustment of means disposed rearwardly ofv said forward or nose end and determining the extent which `said forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

2. A spring catch for a door or the like for nonprohibitively retaining the door in a closed position and comprising a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for co-operating with a catch plate or the like, said roller being formed with a transverse hole through which a `suitable tool can be passed for effecting adjustment of means disposed rearwardly of the roller 'and ldetermining the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

3. A spring catch for a. door or the like for nonprohibitively retaining the. door in a closed position, and comprising a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which `includes at its forward or nose and a roller for co-operating with a catch plate or the like, stop means disposed rearwardly of the roller and adapted to elo-operate with the bolt to determine the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch, and said roll-er being formed with a transverse hole through which a suitable tool can be passed to cifect adjustment of the stop means to vary the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front ofthe catch.

4. A spring catch for `a door or the like for nonprohibitively retaining the door in a closed position, and comprising a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for co-operating with a catch plate or the like, said roller being formed with a transverse hole, a screw disposed rearwardly of the roller and extending in the direction `of movement of the bolt and said screw at its rearward end having screw-threaded engagement with a screw-threaded hole in Ia stationary partof the catch and -at its forward end having =a head which cooperates with the bolt to form stop means determining the extentwhich the forward orV nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch, said head being adapted to be engaged 1and rotated by a tool when passed through the transverse hole in the roller to vary the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

5. A spring catch for a door or the like for nonprohibitively retaining the door in a closed position, and comprising a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to `an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for co-operating with 'a catch plate or the like, said roller being formed with -a transverse hole, a screw disposed rearwardly `of the roller and extending in the direction of movement ofthe bolt and said screw at its rearward end having screw-threaded engagement with a screw-threaded hole inya stationary part of the catch and at its forward end having a headwhich co-operates with the bolt to form stop means determining the extent which the forward or nose end of the bo'lt extends beyond the front of the catch, said head being adapted to be engaged -and rotated by "a tool when passed through the transverse hole in the roller to vary the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch, and means being provided to engage the screw end to resist accidental rotation thereof.

6. A spring catch for a door or the like for non prohibitively retaining the door in fa closed position `and comprising Ia bolt which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for co-operating with a catch plate or the like, said roller being formed with a transverse hole, and the rear part of the bolt being of sleeve-like formation, a helical compression spring mounted upon and co-axial with the sleeve-like part of the bolt and operative between a stationary part of the catch and an abutment on the bolt to urge said bolt forwardly into its extended position, a screw disposed rearwardly of the roller and extending co-'axially of the sleeve-like formation and the rearward end of the screw making screw-threaded engagement with a screw-threaded hole in a stationary part of the catch and at its forward end having a head housed within the sleeve-like formation of the bolt land co-operative therewith to determine the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the catch, and said head being adapted to be engaged and rot-ated by a tool when passed through the transverse hole in the roller to vary the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

7. A spring catch for a door or the like for non-pio hibitively retaining the door in a closed position comprising a stationary body having at its forward end an attachment plate by which the catch can be secured to .a door or the like and a hollow cylindrical casing extending rearwardly from said attachment plate, a bolt which is slidably disposed co-axially within the casing and which bolt includes at its forward or nose end a roller for cooperating with a catch plate or the like, said roller being formed with a transverse hole, and the rear part of the bolt being of sleeve-like formation, la helical compression spring mounted upon and co-axial with the sleeve-like part of the bolt land operative between a rear end wall of the catch and an abutment on the bolt to urge said bolt forwardly into its extended position, a screw disposed rearwardly of the roller and extending co-axially of the sleeve-like for mation 'and the rearward end of the screw making screwthreaded engagement with a screw-threaded hole in the end wall of the casing and at its forward end having a head housed within the sleeve-like formation of the bolt and co-operative therewith to determine the extent which the forward or nose end of the bolt -acts beyond the catch, and said head being adapted to be engaged and rotated by a tool when passed through the transverse hole in the roller to vary the extent at the front or nose end of the bolt extends beyond the front of the catch.

8. A spring catch for a door or the like to retain the door nonprohibitively in a closed position and comprising a body having at its forward end an attachment plate by which the catch can be secured to a door or the like and having la hollow cylindrical casing extending rearwardly from the attachment plate and closed at its rear end by an end wall, a bolt mounted non-rotatably within the casing but so as to be slidable axially of said casing said bolt being bifurcated at its forward end to provide two *arms between which is disposed a roller mounted on pins housed in said arms and disposed transversely of the direction of sliding movement of the bolt, said roller being formed with a transverse hole which can be positioned so as to be co-axial with the cylindrical casing, and the rear of the bolt being formed with a sleeve-like formation co-aaxia1 with the cylindrical casing and formed with a wall, a screw disposed co-axially of the cylindrical casing and having a head at its forward end to co-operate with the wall and formed so as to enable the screw to be rotated by a suitable tool passed through the transverse hole in the roller, and the rear screw-threaded end of said screw engaging a screw-threaded hole in the end wall of the cylindrical casing, a helical compression spring disposed within and co-axially with the cylindrical housing and mounted upon the sleeve-like formation of the bolt and operating between a shoulder on said bolt and the rear end of the catch to urge the bolt forwardly so that the forward end of the bolt projects beyond the front of the attachment plate to an extent determined by the cooperation of the wall of the bolt with the head of the screw, the arrangement being such that upon rotation of the screw by a suitable tool passed Ithrough the transverse hole in the roller the extent which the bolt extends beyond the front of the attachment is adjusted.

9. A spring catch in accordance with claim 8 and wherein the bolt, less the roller and the pins by which it is mounted, and also the body are each made as a uni- 4tary die casting.

10. A spring catch for a door or the like for non-prohibitively retaining the door in a closed position and comprising a bolt which is resiliently urged forwardly to an extended position and which includes at its forward or nose end a roller for co-operating with a catch plate or References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,546,735 Foote Mar. 27, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 678,764 Great Britain Sept. 10, 1952 

